Biggest challenge for Colt, Warriors is to get the feeling back

THE last time we saw these guys under the lights, it was magic. Something was happening -- you could feel it. Man, you could feel it. Colt Brennan was exploding, he was floating. Everyone in the stadium was floating on air.

It was like it was happening in slow motion, at the end. It just kept building and building, like watching a fireworks show that just kept getting bigger. It was like it was all something out of a dream. Remember?

Remember what that night felt like?

What a night.

He'd done it. He'd brought them back.

Colt Brennan had done what we weren't sure was possible anymore. He'd brought them back. The fans who weren't coming anymore, who didn't have the same feelings anymore, who had taken sabbaticals for various concerns -- parking, prices, premiums, opponents, the personal style of the head coach -- he'd brought them back. He'd done it. He turned out to be that rare thing that even those who claim to be, often turn out not to be (ahem). He was a uniter, not a divider.

He was exactly what this program needed most.

Do you remember what it felt like that night?

You can still see Jason Rivers running, running away. Still see Colt Brennan floating, losing his mind.

You can still see him being enveloped by the front row of fans behind the Hawaii bench, awash in their love.

That night, he said, "I can't imagine it being any sweeter than this right now."

Even as it was happening, everyone in the stadium knew it might never happen again.

Brennan said, "You wish you could cherish the moment, get time back."

He couldn't ever top that Sheraton Hawaii Bowl against Arizona State. He probably shouldn't have tried. But he did, of course. And he did find a way to top it, somehow, announcing tearfully that "I like the person I'm becoming in Hawaii," that he was coming back.

He was exactly what this program needed most.

In case you're counting, that's two chicken-skin fairy tales, which ain't bad. But as of tonight it's officially 2007 and those fairy tales are over. The clock strikes midnight at 6:05 p.m.

Now reality sets in, now anything less than perfection will be a disappointment. Now Hawaii is favored in every game.

Sure, this will be like David and Goliath. If David had reached down for his sling and suddenly remembered he'd forgotten his rock back at home. If David's corner refused to throw in the towel and the ref made it go all 15 rounds.

This will be the kind of fight that made Howard Cosell quit.

There's not a lot of magic in that.

It's different being the favorite. It feels different. What happened at the end of last season -- the way it felt -- was special. It isn't easy to get there, and it's even harder when you're Cinderella no more.

It will be the toughest challenge of all, living up to those moments, finding that feeling again. There's a reason those Disney movies end when they do. There's a reason we've never heard what Cinderella had for breakfast the next day.